The AC Blog

Allendale Columbia School Ranked As One Of Newsweek’s Top 5,000 STEM High Schools in America

Allendale Columbia School was recently ranked as one of Newsweek’s Top 5,000 STEM High Schools in America. More than 30,000 high schools in the country were analyzed over a three-year period to determine the rankings. Newsweek, with its long history of reporting on scientific breakthroughs, technological revolutions and societal challenges, partnered with STEM.or to rank America’s Best STEM High Schools.

Recent AC STEM Activities

NASA Thanks AC Sixth Grade Citizen Scientists for Their Research
AC sixth graders just completed a month-long citizen science project through NASA’s GLOBE Program, recording more than 330 cloud observations. On December 17th, the class virtually met with NASA Education Specialist Marile Colon Robles who thanked the students for their work and reiterated the importance their cloud data plays in NASA’s on-going studies. Read more

“Girls Who Code” Club Represent AC at Rochester Maker Faire
This past November, Allendale Columbia School was a sponsor at the Rochester Maker Faire, where our “Girls Who Code” club taught visitors how to make brush bots and paper circuits. Read more

AC Robotics Teams Compete at Local FIRST Robotics Competitions
Four AC robotics teams recently competed in local FIRST robotics competitions. Representing the lower school in the FIRST Lego Robotics City Shaper challenge, were the “Wolf Pack” and the “Lightning Boltz”, led by AC faculty member Donna Chaback. Teresa Parsons, with the help of AC parent John Palomaki, led our middle school team, the “AC Aces”, while the upper school team, “Team 11779”, led by Phil Schwartz and Maya Crosby, competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge. Read more

Second Graders Learn About Cities by Meeting with a City Planner and Building Their Own!
Second graders met with Manager of Special Projects for the City of Rochester, Erik Frisch to discuss different transportation systems and learn more about the City of Rochester as they planned and created their own city, Birchville. Read more

AC-RIT Collaboration Continues to Thrive and Enrich Learning Opportunities for Students
Students in Math 7, Math 8, Algebra I, and Honors Algebra II continue to participate in a series of classes with RIT. Most recently, students conducted a color absorption experiment using RIT’s light equipment, and they have also recently learned about cryptography and the use ciphers to create and crack codes. Read more

Second Graders Learn About Cities by Meeting with a City Planner and Building Their Own!

HAC Girls Cross Country Captures Finger Lakes Championship

October 28, 2019

Wayne, N.Y. – In one of the most tightly contested Wayne-Finger Lakes Championship races in recent history, the varsity girls cross country team took 1st place overall by just a single point in the varsity ‘A’ race at Wayne High School on Saturday morning. The Wolves (115 team points) narrowly took 1st place overall as the top-4 teams were separated by just 4 points.

HAC was able to beat out Waterlo0 (2nd place – 116 team points), Wayne (3rd place – 117 team points) and Red Creek (4th – 118 team points) as they were led by sophomore Mary Cotter who took 3rd place overall out of 99 runners in a time of 20:26.

Senior Liza Cotter was HAC’s next fastest runner earning an 11th overall finish in 21:28. She was followed by 8th grader Evelyn Kacprzynski who ran a career-best 5k time of 22:25 while placing 27th overall. Tea Malone-Bonacci also ran a personal-best as she finished in 29th place in 22:30. She was followed by Emmy Kaza (24:01) who placed 51st and Olivia Woodring (24:30) who finished 53rd overall. Rounding out HAC’s top-7 runners was junior Zoe Crego who placed 58th overall in 24:42 to help secure the Wolves Finger Lakes League meet championship.

The race featured 14 different schools from the Wayne-Finger Lakes Area. The Wolves depth and team were also tested as they were missing one of their top runners in senior Roxy Reisch due to illness.

“HAC’s girls gutted out a thrilling victory in which a mere 4 points separated the top 4 teams,” said head coach Dan Deckman. “I have never seen anything quite like it in cross country. Every single point and every single runner truly played a decisive role in the win.  It was a full team accomplishment that I will never forget.”

Meanwhile, the HAC varsity boys cross country runners also turned out a terrific performance as junior Ryan Mogauro paced the Wolves in the varsity ‘A’ race with a 60th overall finish in 19:48.

He was followed Zach Ellis who’s time of 20:23 placed him in 76th overall. Finishing right behind Ellis was Ming DeMers in 77th place (20:26) and Greg Castellano in 78th place (20:38). Ethan Hearne set a new personal-best 5k time in 21:09 en route to a 94th place finish, while Julian Quesada (22:12) and James Hawkins (24:20) rounded out HAC’s top-7 finishers by placing 111th and 129th respectively.

The boys race featured 133 racers from 19 different school districts.

HAC will race next at the Section V Championship race at Midlakes High School this upcoming Saturday, November 2nd. The girls will race in the Class C race that begins at 1:00 PM and the boys will race in the Class D race that begins at 2:30 PM.

Complete Wayne-Finger Lakes League Championship results can be found here.

HAC Varsity Volleyball Team Wins Section V Class D2 Championship

November 11, 2019

Fairport, N.Y. – HAC’s varsity volleyball team are Section V Class D2 Champions after winning 3-0 over the no. 2 seeded Lyons Lions at Fairport High School on Friday evening. The Wolves won 25-18, 25-12 and 25-14 to remain unbeaten at 21-0 on the season and earn their 1st sectional championship since 2013. It was also HAC’s 5th sectional championship title in program history.

NASA Langley Research Center Director Encourages Students to Do Things THEIR Way

Director of the NASA Langley Research Center, Clayton Turner, returned to campus to discuss the important role our 6th grade students play in on-going scientific studies and research. As a GLOBE school, AC students serve as citizen scientists reporting daily cloud observations to help researchers improve the interpretation of satellite readings, provide ground-based data on contrails, and help better calculate the rate of heat exchange in the atmosphere.

Mr. Turner encouraged students to follow their passions, ask questions, and do research THEIR way. “There are many ways to learn and many pathways to success. These different approaches are often how we make new discoveries. Find what YOU are passionate about and the way that fits YOU!”

AC Faculty Member Beth Guzzetta Recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

AC faculty member, Beth Guzzetta, was presented with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) in October 2019. The PAEMST Award is the highest award given by the U.S. Government to K-12 teachers. Beth was one of four teachers selected from New York State to receive this honor. Nominations and awards were facilitated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation, and a panel of distinguished mathematicians, scientists, and educators at the state and national levels.

“It is an extreme honor to receive the prestigious Presidential Award. I am grateful to those who have inspired me to pursue my passion for bringing creativity to the classroom. Receiving this award refuels my drive to instill the joy of learning within my students so they realize the impact they have on the local and global community, and continue their pursuit of knowledge. With this award comes the responsibility to share my experience with other educators so that they, too, may be inspired.”

Beth Guzzetta has been an educator for over 25 years, spending the last 19 years teaching at Allendale Columbia School. She currently teaches seventh-grade Life Science and sixth and eighth-grade mathematics. She also taught at DeSales High School in Geneva, NY and schools in Massachusetts and Florida.

Beth’s love for science helps her develop innovative projects on campus. She runs a maple sugaring project, a honeybee apiary, and a trout project. After school and in the summer, she runs science camps to excite and engage younger scientists.

Global connections and scientific research are areas that she enjoys sharing with her students through domestic and international trips. These experiences have brought her and her students to Madagascar for biodiversity and archaeology research, the Florida Keys for marine biology research, and Camp Pathfinder in Canada and the Adirondack Mountains for outdoor education.

Beth’s leadership among educators has led her to conduct annual presentations at the National Science Teachers Association National Conference since 2012 and presentations at the Science Teachers Association of NY. She is also a National Geographic Certified Educator.

Beth has a B.A. in mathematics from St. John Fisher College and a M.Ed. from Curry College. She is certified in secondary mathematics and elementary education.

AC Alum Recognized as 2018 CNN Hero

Veterans Day celebrates our soldiers and marines who served this country or, in some cases, made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. But what about all those people who help our troops? The people who live in the country that is being torn apart by war. The people who risk their lives to help our soldiers communicate, navigate, and survive. What about them?

Matt Zeller, an AC Class of 2000 alum, left our campus with ideas of being a lawyer or a politician and went on to earn degrees from Hamilton College and Syracuse University before joining the U.S. Army.

In 2008 his life, and his future, changed forever. (more…)

Seventh Graders Build Independence, Resilience, and Community at Camp Pathfinder

by Aaron Shepard, Rachael Sanguinetti, and Seth Hopkins

Seventh graders went to Camp Pathfinder for five days. Click to view more photos.

Allendale Columbia’s seventh grade recently spent a week hiking, biking, and canoeing in the Canadian wilderness at Camp Pathfinder, a camp for boys owned and operated by AC alumnus Mike Sladden ’76. It’s located on Pathfinder Island on Source Lake in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park. Students spent five days working together and learning a variety of outdoor skills, including fire building and shelter construction. They also explored the history of painter Tom Thomson, a prolific 20th-century Canadian artists who died in the park under mysterious circumstances and was one of the first voices to articulate a Canadian national identity. (more…)